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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23272837">Idle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMidnight/pseuds/SilverMidnight'>SilverMidnight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Being Good Cops, Case Fic, Child Murder, Gen, Sort of Partnership, they're not really friends</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:21:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,153</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23272837</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMidnight/pseuds/SilverMidnight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin comes across Connor trying to figure out a case and decides to help.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Connor &amp; Gavin Reed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Idle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I just got into this fandom and I will admit to be in fucking love with it! It's so brilliant! I still have other fics I want to write for it, but right now I will leave you with this one. Mostly because I think their relationship that would change the most after the games ends (with the positive outcome of course).</p><p>I hope you enjoy!</p><p>If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yawning widely Gavin pushed back from his desk before laying his head down on it. It felt like his brain was attempting to escape his head. A soft sigh echoed from above him as someone patted him on the back. He didn't have to look up to know that it was Tina. She was the only one brave enough.</p><p>He just needed to not look at the computer screen for a little while. It wasn't going to help all that much, but at that point he was willing to do almost anything. It helped that it was almost blissful having the blackness fill his vision.</p><p>When he woke up that morning he had known it wasn't going to be a pleasant day. The case he had spent the last few months working on had finally been wrapped up the night before leaving one thing for him and his partner to do. Paperwork.</p><p>His head had started to pound heavily almost as soon as he sat at his desk to write everything up. Paperwork days were one of the things about the job that made him wonder if it was all worth it in the end. They always took too much out of him.</p><p>He could already here the jokes from the other officers. None of them meant any harm by it, but everyone knew that he'd rather be out in the field than at his desk. Sitting idle while shit was going down was the easiest way to make him go insane.</p><p>He was fucking horrible at sitting still. He needed to be moving or doing something instead of looking at a screen. The joys of having a very short attention span. Normally he was doing so many things at once he didn't have to even focus on one thing.</p><p>Still, he knew that the paperwork was important and despite what people might say he didn't do things by half. It just might take him a little bit longer to get everything done. The bosses had gotten used to that though.</p><p>The longer he sat there though the more he felt himself start to fidget. Something that only made the pain worse. He was truly starting to regret not grabbing the headache meds he had at his house. That wasn't his fault. He wasn't exactly sure how it wasn't his fault, but he was sure he could come up with a reasoning once he could think.</p><p>Running a hand over his face Gavin lifted his head up long enough to look at the clock hoping he could finally leave for the day. He had to have been there for eight hours. Except he hadn't. How the hell had only four hours passed? It felt like he'd been there all fucking day.</p><p>Suddenly the need to get up and move around overtook him. He couldn't do it anymore. With more force than he meant to the detective pushed away from his desk and made his way into the break room.</p><p>He knew that he didn't really need anything from there, but he also knew that if he didn't move soon he was going to lose it. It wasn't just the need to move in general either, but to move away from his work. He needed to do something, anything, to make it so he could breathe a little easier.</p><p>The walk to the break room wasn't nearly as long as he needed, but it was better than nothing. At least it was until he saw that he wasn't alone. He wasn't exactly sure why he thought he might be though. There was almost always someone in the room.</p><p>What was odd was the fact that the person was Connor. In all the time that they had been working in the same place he had only ever seen him there when he was grabbing Anderson something to drink. He wasn't the kind of person that sat around and did nothing at work.</p><p>For a moment Gavin stood at the entrance unsure if he should go in. He knew that it was stupid and that he was over-thinking it, but he and the android had a very precarious relationship. Meaning they would say something snarky and keep going like nothing happened.</p><p>The acting like nothing happened add been added after the android had deviated and come back as… himself? Gavin still wasn't sure how that worked fully. All he knew was the fact that they had much more fun arguing than they did before.</p><p>That was about as far as he cared to really think about it. If he was honest he doubted that he would ever fully understand anything about Connor. He didn't really care. Having him around had been about as annoying as having a rookie underfoot.</p><p>Gavin knew that part of the reason he disliked the android so much was because he was new. That was pretty much always the way he acted around people that had just joined them. Until they proved that they could handle being there he gave them a hard time.</p><p>Admittedly, it was a little different with Connor because of his overall situation. He was fully aware that he pushed harder than he would with a human. In his defense though a huge part of being a cop came from emotions that the android hadn't been able to feel.</p><p>Then the revolution happened and the android came back. The first time he saw the man after everything had gone down he had no idea what he was supposed to expect. Was he still going to be the same or had something actually changed?</p><p>When he thought about it he knew that it was a little bit of both. Yeah, the man was his own person and could feel emotions and all that jazz, but he was still basically the same plastic prick that he had always been.</p><p>For the most part their relationship hadn't changed at all. They rarely ever talked to each other outside of saying something sarcastic. Something that was a little more cutting than it had been when they first met. He couldn't lie saying that it was more fun arguing with him than it had been, but that was it. Alright, so he really liked their back and forth now. That wasn't the point.</p><p>The point was he was too tired for their normal back and forth. Hell, he was too tired to be around Tina and the woman was pretty much his best friend. He couldn't just walk away though. That wasn't the person that he was.</p><p>Shaking his head at his own thoughts he made his way into the room his eyes quickly going over the android. He had to admit from where he was Connor looked about as good as he felt. Could androids get tired like that?</p><p>He could remember Anderson saying something about that in the back of his mind, but he had zoned out pretty quickly. He hadn't signed up for a 'How to take care of tin cans 101'. With the older man gone on vacation though maybe he should have.</p><p>Slowly making his way over to the coffee machine he forced himself not to think about any of it. He had his own job to do. When he got to the machine though he found himself wondering if it would just be better to head down the street and grab something at the cafe.</p><p>He did need the break and grabbing something for him to snack on sometimes helped when his mind was trying to go in too many directions. With a plan in mind he turned on his heel ready to leave only to stop when he saw the table in front of the android.</p><p>Open files covered the small surface in front of him. Picture of smiling children stared back seeming to be froze in a happiness that he knew hadn't lasted. Happy faces like that should not be in police files.</p><p>"Didn't think you'd use physical files, tin can," Gavin found himself commenting coming to a stop next to the table.</p><p>"I had read that a change of scenery could help when one is having difficulty," Connor replied his voice completely void of emotion, "I printed out the files and moved here from my desk in hope it would help me think more clearly."</p><p>"Guessing it didn't."</p><p>"I have been sitting here for two hours, thirty-eight minutes, and fifteen seconds."</p><p>The more the android spoke the easier it was to hear the frustration behind the almost mechanic tone. A voice in the back of his head told him to pat the man on the back and move on. It wasn't his case. He didn't have to do anything. Even as he thought that though he knew he couldn't.</p><p>Grabbing a chair he spun it around and sat down leaning his arms against the back. Connor cocked his head to the side looking more like a puppy than he usually did. Sometimes it was hard for Gavin to believe that the man was a cop. A fairly decent cop on top of that. Not that he would ever say that out loud.</p><p>"What do you have so far?" Gavin asked nodding to the files.</p><p>Brown eyes blinked at him while the yellow circle on the side of his head flickered red before fading back. It was clear that Connor was trying to process what was going on. Truthfully, Gavin was trying to figure that out too.</p><p>In that moment though it didn't matter to him who was working on the case. What mattered was the children. Knowing that he wasn't going to get far until the android stopped thinking he rolled his eyes and sat there. For a moment he was sure the man was going to refuse him. Then he deflated.</p><p>"Seven little boys dead," Connor offered softly, "Four human, three android. Ages range from six to ten. They were taken from different places all over the city at different times. All the parents have the same story. They looked away for a moment and suddenly their son was nowhere to be seen. A few hours after their kidnapping their found dead not far from there. No one sees anything. Outside of their sex there is nothing connecting them and there's no evidence at any of the scenes."</p><p>The more the android explained the case the harder his voice got. Gavin could practically hear the way he was shaking. Not that it was all that shocking. Everyone at the precinct knew that Connor had issues with cases concerning children.</p><p>As far as he knew no one knew exactly why it was a thing and Connor wasn't talking about it. It became clear fairly quickly though that something had happened in his past that gave him a soft spot for children.</p><p>If he was honest that had been about the time that he started to feel more neutral towards the android. Seeing him take a case so personally had made him seem like the person he was claiming to be.</p><p>"Are you sure they're connected?" Gavin questioned pulling a file closer to him, "I mean, yeah, the cases seem similar enough and all the victims are male, but that could be a coincidence. They could be different crimes."</p><p>"I..." Connor tried before shaking his head, "I just know. I know that this, all of this, is connected together. I just- None of it makes sense."</p><p>"You're looking for child murders to make sense? Fuck that. None of it is ever going to make sense and if it does put your badge down and walk the fuck out of here. Alright. Let's break this down. Talk me through what you've got so far."</p><p>For a moment Connor stared at him in silence. The brown eyes seemed to be trying to pierce through him. It was an uncomfortable feeling to say the least and there was a part of him that wanted to walk away. He could only handle someone staring at him like he was something on the bottom of their shoe for so long before he lost his ever loving fucking mind.</p><p>"Why are you helping me?" Connor asked his voice barely over a whisper.</p><p>"Who the fuck said I'm helping you?" Gavin replied glaring at the android angrily, "There are seven kids dead. I'm helping them."</p><p>A smile twitched on Connor's lips his head slowly nodding. He couldn't help but roll his eyes even as he felt a bit of pride for getting the man to smile in that moment. Connor was one of the most serious people that he knew. Getting him to smile even for a moment when he was in a bad mood took a lot.</p><p>"I have attempted to put them in every category I can think of," Connor finally continued pushing a worn notebook towards him, "There is nothing connecting the victims."</p><p>Nodding his head Gavin pulling the notebook closer. In the annoying perfect font that only an android could write was a list. Schools, friends, parents, doctors, pets, and a few others. All of them had a line through them.</p><p>His eyes quickly went over the list hoping to think of something that had been missed. Connor was right though. He had looked through, and dismissed, all the things that could tie the victims together.</p><p>"First of all," Gavin started lifting the notebook, "Seriously?"</p><p>"I thought seeing it physically would help," Connor defended with a shrug, "It did not."</p><p>Pushing the notebook away Gavin grabbed one of the files trying to take everything in. He knew that he wasn't even close in getting all the information, but he had to know that he tried before they moved on to something else.</p><p>Drumming his fingers against the metal he pushed one file away before going to a new one doing his best to ignore the photos of the kids. They looked so happy. So innocent. They'd never have the life they were meant to. Their parents would always have the loss of a child darkening their hearts.</p><p>"It can't be understood," Gavin muttered furrowing his brow as he pulled a third file close.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Connor asked confused.</p><p>"Like I said before crimes like this are fucked up. They'll can't be understood. Sometimes they're exactly what they are on the surface."</p><p>"What are they on the surface? Their deaths are-"</p><p>"A tragedy. Plain and simple. It's not how these cases normally go. I've worked them before. For the most part they have a 'reason' behind them. This isn't typical though. Especially… Especially given the fact that none of them show any signs of sexual assault."</p><p>For a moment the two men sat their letting his words sink in. A part of Gavin hated himself for thinking like that. He knew that it was a necessary thing for his job, but fuck if he didn't hate every second of it.</p><p>When he first joined the force he hadn't realized exactly what he was getting into. Well, he had known. He hadn't had the best childhood and knew that he would be forced to face all the nightmares all over again.</p><p>Still, the fact that he had to allow his mind to go as dark as it went sometimes was terrifying. The knowledge that if he wasn't careful enough he could get caught there was always playing on repeat in his brain. He could never let himself fall that far.</p><p>"What if the suspect lost a child recently?" Connor asked bring him out of his thoughts.</p><p>"It's possible," Gavin nodded licking at his lips, "The kids were out with their families at the time?"</p><p>"Yes. They were taken from parks, zoos, when they were out shopping together."</p><p>"Places where they were-"</p><p>"Happy. Where they were being a family."</p><p>"It's possible that your suspect was just out and saw happy families. If they lost their child recently it could have been a trigger."</p><p>"It would explain why there is no connection between the victims. If we look at people that lost their child recently in that age range we might find them."</p><p>"Parents that recently lost little boys between the age of six and ten. There can't be that many."</p><p>Nodding his head quickly Connor stood up and quickly started to pack up the files. There was something in the way he was moving that made him seem almost desperate. Before he could try to help the files were gone and the android was walking out of the room.</p><p>He got to the entrance before he turned back to look at him as if he was expecting him to follow. Rolling his eye Gavin pushed his hands into his pockets and followed until they were at the mans desk.</p><p>Connor didn't bother to say anything as he set the files down and pressed his hand against the screen. With a cock of his eyebrow the detective leaned forward letting his eyes quickly go over what had been pulled up.</p><p>Names flickered over the screen faster than he could read them. It was then that he realized why Anderson and Connor moved through their cases as quickly as they did. Apparently it paid to have an android for some things.</p><p>All too soon though Gavin found the headache that he had been trying to ignore rearing its ugly head again. Cursing under his breath he clenched his eyes shut putting his hands against the desk to keep from falling over.</p><p>"Detective Reed?" Connor asked a hand resting on his shoulder, "Are you alright?"</p><p>"Fine," he quickly responded brushing the hand off, "You got something?"</p><p>"Not yet. I included all deaths in my search. From murder to sickness to accidents and spanned it over the last year. At the moment in time there are about seventeen. I am trying to narrow it down, but it will take awhile."</p><p>Running a hand over his face Gavin nodded his head before moving back to his desk and sitting down. There was a small part of him that wanted to keep looking at the screen and figure out what was going on.</p><p>It wasn't in him to walk away from a case before it was solved. He had a stack of files in his drawer to prove that. This wasn't his case though. He had just been helping out when he saw that someone needed help.</p><p>In the back of his mind he knew that when this was over he'd be questioned why he was helping the android. They might get along slightly better than before, which probably wasn't saying anything since he had pointed his gun at him before, but they weren't friends by any means.</p><p>He had meant what he said earlier though. It didn't matter to him that Connor was the one he was working with. It didn't matter who he had to work with at any point in time. As long as they were able to solve the case. The fact that the case had anything to do with children just reiterated that.</p><p>Running a hand through his hair he gently messaged his scalp hoping to alleviate some of the pressure so he could get back to work and stop feeling so useless. He couldn't just push his work off because he didn't feel well.</p><p>As he sat there trying to will the pain away he found himself thinking about the case. He hated whenever a case dealt with children. They didn't get under his skin like they did with some of the other cops, but if he never saw one again he'd be happy.</p><p>He had never wanted to be a parent. Partially because of his own childhood, but mostly because of this job. He had seen too many haunted faces of not just parents that lost a child, but children that had been failed to ever want to bring someone into the world.</p><p>Losing a child was one of the worst things that anyone could experience. Maybe it's a good thing Anderson wasn't there. It would be a hell of a lot worse if he had been working the case as well. If he had even been assigned it at all.</p><p>That thought made him freeze completely. Ever since the older man had lost his son he hadn't been assigned cases with children unless Fowler absolutely had to. He was the last resort. Hell, the captain would go out himself before he sent Anderson.</p><p>Lifting his head up Gavin looked over at the android and the empty desk next to him. Anderson had taken a two week vacation leaving Connor completely alone. If there was one thing about him that everyone knew it was his tendency to act before he thought.</p><p>Pushing away from his desk he made his way back over to the man and leaned against the desk once more. Brown eyes didn't even flicker towards him but seeing the way his shoulders tensed he knew his presence was known.</p><p>"This isn't your case, is it?" Gavin questioned his voice low enough that only Connor heard it, "This isn't a case at all."</p><p>"It is," he responded calmly, "You proved it is."</p><p>"Don't. Don't you fucking dare try to pull that shit with me. I don't care that you're working this, but don't lie to me."</p><p>Slowly Connor pulled his hand away from the screen and turned to look at him. There was an almost heartbreaking look in his eyes. In that moment he found himself really hating how human he was. How extremely fragile that look seemed. How familiar.</p><p>"No one was looking," Connor offered as if he needed Gavin to understand, "The cases came in and were assigned to different people. The likelihood of them being connected was too low for me to take the chance."</p><p>"So you waited until Anderson was gone and no one was there to stop you," Gavin replied cocking an eyebrow, "You could have said something. To the people that were assigned the cases. To Fowler. They would have listened."</p><p>"No one cared."</p><p>"Not knowing and not caring are two different things."</p><p>A soft sigh fell from the mans lips as he slumped in his chair. He looked so young like that and it reminded Gavin way too much of his first few years of being a detective. He had wanted so badly to not just solve cases but prove that he was useful that he was willing to practically killed himself to do it.</p><p>It didn't matter to him that he had a partner that was older and had more experience than him. If he saw a case that no one else did than he was going to chase after it with everything that he was until he solved it.</p><p>"Look," Gavin sighed leaning a little closer, "I get it. Fuck do I get it. That need to solve all the problems of the world. It doesn't go away. It shouldn't go away. You can't help anyone if your dead or fired though."</p><p>"What if no one believed me?" Connor asked his eyes wide looking more like a puppy than he had any right, "What if…"</p><p>"I'm not your friend, Connor. I don't like you. Shit there are times when I can barely stand you. Look where I am right now. I'm helping you solve this case. Remove your fucking ego from this. You think you have a case go to someone about it. Don't act like you can do it on your own. You can't. Got it?"</p><p>Nodding his head slightly the android let his head drop to his chest. Gavin knew that it would probably not be the last time that someone had to have that conversation with him. It probably wouldn't even sink in until something bad happened. It hadn't with him at least. Getting shot would do that though.</p><p>With a soft sigh he patted the android on the back before standing up and making his way to the break room. The need to have a cup of coffee was too much for him at the moment. If he was lucky it might even help with his headache.</p><p>Rolling his neck side to side he poured out the coffee before making his way back to his desk. When he got to his desk he looked across the way and saw the android once again focused solely on his computer.</p><p>It was a sight that was all too familiar. Almost every single time he happened to look over there it was the same thing. He always focused all of his energy on the case he was working. Somehow that was both good and bad.</p><p>Gavin wasn't his babysitter though. If the android wanted to run himself into the ground or get himself fired while his partner was gone than that was what he was going to do. No one was going to stop him.</p><p>Not that he truly thought there was anything anyone could do. It didn't matter how good of a cop you were. If you pushed too hard than you were going to lose yourself completely and that only ever ended with a body bag.</p><p>Sighing at the thought the detective turned back to his own computer knowing he had done everything he could. The only thing he could do now was keeping working and wait to see what the android did with himself.</p><p>Forcing himself to take a deep breath Gavin returned to his own work once more. If he was going to avoid spending overtime at his desk or having to continue the paperwork tomorrow than he was going to have to get it done soon.</p><p>He had no idea how long he sat there staring at the screen the untouched coffee going cold next to him. All he knew was that as soon as he was done he was driving home and crashing on his bed until he had to get up tomorrow. There was nothing that was going to stop him.</p><p>"Alyssa Holland."</p><p>Jerking in his chair Gavin turned slightly to stare at the file that had been slammed onto his desk. Following the arm up he found himself glaring tiredly at a sheepish looking Connor. With a shake of his head he leaned back in his chair and motioned for the man to continue.</p><p>"A single mother whose son died of cancer a five months ago. Her son, Theodore Holland, was seven when he died. According to her social media accounts they loved to go out together. Their favorite places included two of the parks that victims were taken from and the zoo."</p><p>Nodding his head Gavin grabbed the file and started to go through it. Connor was right. Looking at everything that he had been able to gather about her the woman hit every marker that he had pointed out and he hated it.</p><p>Even though he knew how unlikely it was he had still hoped that he had been wrong. That the cases weren't connected or that it was just some fucker out there that needed to be thrown in jail before they killed again.</p><p>Alyssa Holland wasn't that person. She had been a loving, devoted mother that had lost it after her child had died. No matter how he said it in his head it was a shitty situation and there was nothing anyone could do to change that.</p><p>"You should talk to her," Gavin offered closing the file once more before looking at the clock, "It's only… Fuck, it's only seven?"</p><p>"I was planning on it, but..." Connor stated staring down at him, "You should come with me. You were the reason that she was found in the first place. You deserve to see it through. If you would like to."</p><p>There was a part of him that wanted to refuse. He was so close to finally getting his own paperwork done and if he did go than he'd only be adding more to that. He really fucking hated doing paperwork.</p><p>At the same time though he did want to see it through. He needed to know whether or not the case had been solved and the parents could have some kind of answers. That and it probably wasn't a good idea to let the man go on his own. Android or not.</p><p>"Fine," he shrugged grabbing his car keys, "You got her address?"</p><p>"Yes," Connor nodded his head looking more energetic than he should, "Are you ready?"</p><p>"To accuse a woman that just lost her son of multiple counts of murder? Yeah. I'm totally fucking ready for that shit."</p><p>The android gave him a sad smile as they made their way out of the precinct. Neither of them spoke as they climbed into his car and started to the suspects house. There was really nothing for either of them to say at that point.</p><p>The silence was the perfect time to try to come up with a plan to get some answers. Though he was pretty sure that they were on the right track he knew that they could still be wrong in suspecting her.</p><p>This was not the kind of case that anyone wanted to be wrong about. If they were than they were going to cause a lot more harm than good. If he was honest though he didn't want to hurt her more than she already was even if she was the killer.</p><p>"Detective Reed," Connor started looking between him and the window, "May I ask you a personal question?"</p><p>"Do I regret talking to you today?" Gavin groused under his breath, "What do you want, tin can?"</p><p>"Why did you join law enforcement?"</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"Most people that decide to enter a career in law enforcement have a reason. From it being a family career path to having something that happened in their past leading them that way. Which do you fall under?"</p><p>Letting his eyes flicker over to the android Gavin ground his teeth together. It wasn't as if he hadn't been asked that question a hundred times. Hell, that had been one of the first questions he was asked when he was in the academy.</p><p>He could admit that could be an important question. It showed what type of cop a person was going to be. Whether or not they were doing it just because they were trying to prove something or if they actually cared about what they were doing.</p><p>As soon as almost anybody found out he was a cop they began to ask questions like that. Or they went down a different road and asked if he had his cuffs on him. It was easy to tell which he liked better.</p><p>"Why the fuck are you still a cop?" Gavin ground out gripping his steering wheel tightly.</p><p>"I thought of doing other things," Connor answered calmly, "I knew that I started because Cyberlife decided so. That it is what I was designed to do. It probably would have been for the best if I tried something else. Both Hank and Markus did attempt to lead towards other career paths. Every time I thought of doing that it felt… wrong. I might have been designed for this, but I also do enjoy it. I like knowing that I am helping others. I feel like I have a place to belong when I work a case."</p><p>Gavin couldn't help but sigh at that. Of course the android had actually spent time searching for an answer. An answer that made more sense than he wanted it to. It was just like him to open up and give an actual answer.</p><p>It would be easy enough to tell Connor why he had joined himself. It wasn't as if he was sensitive about the fucked up way he had been raised. A shit ton of people had dealt with abuse when they were a kid. Some of those people joined law enforcement. He wasn't special.</p><p>At the same time though he did hate talking about it. He didn't want to explain why he had grown up to be the person that he was. He didn't want to say he became a cop because his shitty upbringing made him want to save people from experiencing it themselves.</p><p>He could still remember how many times he tired to get someone to listen to what he was saying. How they turned away from him as if he had no idea what he was talking about. The ramblings of a child's imagination.</p><p>He had wanted to put himself in a position where he could do something if someone needed him to. Where he could fight for them to be heard when everyone else had their heads too far up their asses to pay attention to what was right in front of them.</p><p>As he pulled up in front of the suspects house he found himself wondering if he wanted to say something. It wasn't as if he didn't owe Connor anything. If he didn't want to tell the man he didn't have to. It was just another story. Everyone had one.</p><p>"We should talk to Miss Holland," Connor stated before he could find the answer he wanted.</p><p>Swallowing roughly he climbed out of the car not bothering to see if the android was following him. He had barely gotten halfway to the door before he heard footsteps quickly yet methodically from behind him. As soon as he saw the man next to him he knocked on the door.</p><p>It took long enough for him to hear footsteps from inside that he began to question what they were doing. Yes, they had decent reasons to be there, but he wished that it was something much more concrete than what was there.</p><p>A moment later a woman was opening the door and they couldn't go back. It was easy to see that she was the person they had come to talk to. She looked so much older than she had in her pictures. It was hard to believe that she was actually a few years younger than him.</p><p>"Miss Alyssa Holland?" Gavin asked showing her his badge.</p><p>"Yes?" she asked her eyes darting between them.</p><p>"I'm Detective Gavin Reed and this is…"</p><p>Looking at the android he found himself wondering how he was supposed to introduce him. Yes, he had a badge and was a cop but he had no idea if he had a title or if he was just Connor. That really should have been something that was more known around the precinct.</p><p>"My name is Connor," the man offered with a slight smile, "May we ask you some questions?"</p><p>"Oh," Holland muttered blinking a few times quickly before moving aside, "Of course. Please, come in."</p><p>Putting his badge away he followed the woman in letting his eyes take in everything that was there. He didn't know why he was expecting it to look as if it was a shrine to her son, but it wasn't. Other than photos of her and a little boy lining the walls and drawing near the floorboard it looked completely normal.</p><p>Moving slightly closer to one of the pictures he found himself staring at the woman spinning her son in the air. Both of them were clearly having fun. Their smiles were almost enough to make him smiles himself. It was clear that she had loved him dearly.</p><p>"Theo," Holland muttered the heartbreak clear in her voice, "My son. He passed away a few months back."</p><p>"I'm sorry for your loss," Gavin offered turning to look at her fully.</p><p>"Thank you. Why are you two here again?"</p><p>"We are sorry if we are disturbing you," Connor answered giving his a barely there smile, "We have some questions about an investigation that we are trying to solve."</p><p>"Investigation? How can I help?"</p><p>"I am sorry to do this, but some children have been found murdered recently."</p><p>As the android talked Gavin let himself simply watch the woman. There was so much that one could learn from just watching how someone reacted with their body. He had broken a case or two because of that.</p><p>He felt his heart sink when he saw her shifting from foot to foot her eyes looking away from them. She knew exactly why they were there. She knew what Connor was going to say before he even finished talking.</p><p>Forcing himself to take a deep breath Gavin straightened his back knowing that they couldn't beat around the bush. No matter how much they felt for her she had killed seven kids. They couldn't let their emotions blind that.</p><p>"Miss Holland," Gavin started knowing he was taking a risk, "Do you really want to do this?"</p><p>"I-" the woman started before clearing her throat, "I don't know what you're talking about, Detective."</p><p>"I think you do."</p><p>"Miss Holland," Connor cut in before she could deny it further, "Your heart rate jumped by eight percent when we introduced ourselves. It has only gone up since. Please, do not lie to us."</p><p>"We know what happened. We know what you did. Come in with us. Don't make this harder than it already is."</p><p>Tears filled her eyes as she stumbled past them so she could rest her hand on the photo he had been staring at before. He couldn't get past how happy they looked. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to any of them.</p><p>"I didn't-" she started her fingers curling into a fist, "I don't remember what happened. When I… When they… I was doing what everyone said. I was trying to live myself without my Theo. I tried!"</p><p>Hearing her voice break Gavin looked away glancing at Connor. From where he was he could see the tears making his eyes look brighter.. He wished that he could say that he had expected their conversation to go differently. He knew how this would end before it began though.</p><p>"Miss Holland," Gavin tried hoping he was able to get her to follow him into the car without an incident.</p><p>"It was like the world went black," she continued spinning towards him, "I saw them. I saw them laughing and playing and I… I got so angry, Then they were on the ground. There was so much blood. I tried to help them, but it was too late. I killed them. I killed them."</p><p>Hearing her voice break painfully he started to move closer to her wanting to provide some kind of comfort. He didn't get far before he was jerking back as she pulled out a kitchen knife. Not knowing what she was going to do he put his hands up.</p><p>"Alyssa," Gavin tried watching as the blade shook, "Don't do this."</p><p>"Why not?" she asked tears freely falling down her face as she placed the knife to her throat, "I should have done this when I lost Theo. None of this would have happened if I had."</p><p>Before he could think of anything to say to her a hand wrapped around her wrist twisting it enough to shock her into dropping the knife but not hurt her. Moving quickly he placed cuffs on her wrists while kicking the knife away.</p><p>He had just closed the cuffs when all the fight drained out of her. Sighing he took on most of her weight before slowly letting her sink on to the floor where she curled up in a ball her entire body shaking as she was consumed by sobs.</p><p>"Call it in," Gavin ordered his voice softer than normal as he took a step away.</p><p>"I already have," Connor replied coming to stand next to him, "I know that she was the one that killed them, but I was not expecting this."</p><p>"No one expects something like this. You see a crime and think fuck the person must be the scum of the earth. You rarely think of someone in pain themselves. Doesn't make it any better. Shit. Probably makes it worse."</p><p>"You are..."</p><p>Hearing the android trail off Gavin glanced over at him. Wide brown eyes stared back at him filled with confusion and something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. He opened his mouth to question the man only to be cut off by a knock on the door.</p><p>Connor quickly moved letting Chris into the house and began to explain everything that happened. He watched as the mans face went from confusion to anger to sadness as he listened. It was one of the cases none of them would be able to forget.</p><p>Shaking his head he turned away from the men and back to Alyssa. The woman was still on the ground her mouth moving quickly as she muttered apologizes over and over between sobs. Sighing softly he knelt in front of her his hand coming to wrap around her arm and pull her to her feet.</p><p>"Come on," Gavin said trying to sound soothing, "It's time to go."</p><p>He practically had to drag her up and to Chris. It was as if she had no strength left in her body at all. Handing her over to the officer he let out a sigh as they made their way to his car and drove off to the precinct.</p><p>"Thank you for your help, Detective Reed," Connor offered after a silent moment, "You could have left me alone, but I am glad you chose not to. Even if the ending was not as I expected."</p><p>"I wasn't helping you, tin can," Gavin replied roughly.</p><p>"I know. You were helping the victims. Still, I would be sitting there with no answers if you had decided to leave me alone. I know that we are not friends. Most of the time you are an absolute asshole to everyone around you. Then I hear stories of you spending days next to your partners bed when she was in the hospital or I hear about you making sure people that are too drunk at bars you go to get home safely. That is not the person that I thought you were."</p><p>"Why would I be that with you? We're not friends."</p><p>"No, but today you showed side I never thought I might see in you."</p><p>"What's your point? Cause I'm kind of getting sick and tired of this fucking heart to heart."</p><p>"My point is that you are an asshole and I do not want to be your friend. I am, on the other hand, happy to know you and I am happy to know that underneath everything you are not just a good detective. One that would do whatever it took to help the victims get justice. You are a good man, Detective Reed, for an asshole."</p><p>"Thanks. I guess your not completely horrible yourself. For a tin can. Also, fuck off, I'm amazing."</p>
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